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Commuting to Work Could be Bad for your Health - Study

Commuting to Work Could be Bad for your Health - Study

By Emma Heaton on 12th December, 2011

According to a recent study commuting to work by train, bus or car can have detrimental effects on your health making you more likely to suffer from stress and exhaustion. A study conducted by Lund University in Sweden assessed 12,000 employees between the ages of 18 and 65. They found that people who travelled into work by a car or by public transport reported higher levels of stress, compared with active commuters who walked or bicycled into work. It has now encouraged further investigation into the health impacts of commuting to work and ways to deal with negative outcomes.

One of the researchers said that: “Generally car and public transport users suffered more everyday stress, poorer sleep quality and exhaustion.” Health of commuters also decreased with the more hours that they travelled. According to CBI and Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey, there was an accumulation of 190 million days lost to poor health and absences last year. This is an average of 6.5 days off on the sick for each employee costing the employer £17billion overall. Therefore working from home would be much more beneficial to both staff and employees, staying at home to work and cutting out the unhealthy commute may result in less illness and absence, employees may be more willing to work from home while ill if it meant they didn’t have to get there and back and be away from the house all day.

A Decorated Shed garden office offers the ideal home working solution. Situated at the bottom of your garden it provides a convenient distance from the home, being far enough away from any distractions but near enough for the home to be accessible all day long. If you work from home it means that you adopt more flexible hours, resulting in a better work/life balance. The great office space provides a quiet and tranquil area where you can concentrate and focus allowing productivity to thrive.


Category:  Working from home

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